Another crappy night’s sleep – last night it wasn’t so much about the distractions as just not being able to get to sleep – I was still awake at 2330 so went for a wander out to the road in an attempt to change something and let me sleep.
It didn’t really work and it was gone 0030 before I finally slept, and even once I was asleep I kept waking up so when 0515 rolled round and it was time to get up I wasn’t exactly feeling alert!
Today we get into Ashgabat and apparently it wouldn’t be appropriate to use flagging tape in the city so not only do we have route notes but we’ve also got a hand-drawn map as well.
Stage 82 route notes
Ashgabat route map
There are only eight of us riding the whole stage today. A couple of others are riding from lunch, while some are taking the van all the way into the hotel either being unwell or having decided that the heat and the wind of yesterday were too much for them to be bothered with again today (or a combination of both).
With so few of us riding and the expectation that the wind was going to get worse as the day went on we set off as a group and quickly got into a 2km routine, getting the distance covered at a reasonable pace. We took a break at 46km for a pee and something to eat before pushing on to lunch.
Thankfully the wind actually dropped off after about 15km which meant that riding was pretty comfortable, even the heat wasn’t so bad, so we made good time.
Because we were all in a group from lunch Jordan, our tour mechanic, got his wish to ride with the faster riders. One of the crew is always that last rider in the group behind the slowest rider – I think that gets a bit frustrating at times, particularly since the slowest rider can be pretty darn slow, especially in poor conditions like yesterday’s head wind, so for Jordan to be able to sit at the back of a group of riders averaging almost 30 km/h was a real treat.
By popular demand we stopped at the coke stop at 85km before continuing on. I also tried to make another video clip of us riding which worked out a bit better than my last attempt. In order you see Charlie, Erwin, Will, Micael, Grant, Wim, Nancy and Jordan bringing up the rear.
At the top of the rise about 25km out we could begin to see Ashgabat in the distance, particularly some of the larger marble and glass buildings that seem to dominate.
The last 10km into the city started to get pretty crazy with traffic, over-passes, on ramps, off ramps, manic drivers, trucks stopped on the side of the road (by police) and with us as something of a spectacle the sights of which the locals have never seen – nine lycra-clad cyclists travelling at 30 km/h through the chaos!
Once we got into the CBD things were a little less manic, mostly because the traffic was grid-locked in places so we were able to thread our way through and actually make progress unlike the vehicles.
Into the hotel and we were too early to check in so there was nothing for it – we just had to sit in the bar and drink beer until we could get into our rooms. Overall it was another good day riding with an average of 28.6 km/h over the 127km which for a couple of our group was the fastest and longest sustained ride they’d ever done.
Post shower Michael, Rob and I wandered over to a nearby beer garden (yes really) for some lunch before heading off into the city to see what we could find.
The answer proved to be not terribly much – this is a huge marble-glass-steal city which seems to be utterly soulless, and reasonably deserted – it’s much like Mary only significantly larger and grander. After the historic cities of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan seems oddly modern and empty.
Back at the hotel it was time for a pre-dinner nap, dinner – which we had in the hotel restaurant for lack of enthusiasm to go any further, particularly since anything worth going to is rather a long way from the hotel, and now it’s time for an early night (by rest-day standard) to try and catch up on the sleep I’ve been missed the last couple of nights.
Riding data
View from my tent
Turkmen National Circus outside the hotel
